


Not only a part of your life

by stressedoutteenager



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Bus AU, F/M, Yousana, Yousana AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 15:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11580474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stressedoutteenager/pseuds/stressedoutteenager
Summary: Sana and Yousef have been taking the same bus for years but only now, finally, talk.





	1. Chapter 1

There are some people that are a part of your life but not really in your life.   
Your family, your friends, teachers, acquaintances are in your life, you actively seek their attention, talk to them, spend time with them.   
But also, there are people who are only a part of your life but not really in it. People who you see every once in a while at the grocery store and recognize but don't know anything about them. People who live somewhere near you and you see them walk their dog every day but never talked to them.

Or people you take the same bus with for years but never talk to.

There is a guy who is just a part of Sana's life and has been for the past three years.

Once again, like almost every afternoon, Sana sees him as soon as she gets on the bus.

He is sitting in the same seat he always tries to occupy. When Sana gets on the bus there is barely ever a seat free but he is always sitting.

When the bus stops at Sana's stop near her school, where she usually gets on the bus, the stranger's eyes immediately go to the door. He might want to know if that one person who is a part of his life but not really in it would take the bus today.

Their eyes meet. Maybe because they both looked for each other in a way, without actually admitting it to themselves. Neither of them knows how to react, even after all this time.

The first time Yousef had noticed her was years ago. The beautiful girl in the black hijab had helped an older lady leave the bus and because of that almost couldn't get back in before the doors closed. She managed though and he found himself breathing out in relief. 

The first time Sana noticed the handsome dark-haired boy was years ago. It was a busy day and there was almost no space to even stand on the bus. People were squished against each other and Sana wished more than ever that there was a free seat for her. She was looking around in the hope to see a free spot but instead she saw how this tall guy stood up from his spot and insisted that the pregnant woman sits on his former seat.

After those incidents both, Yousef and Sana, saw the other one on the bus every day. Sana takes this bus home from school or after basketball practice. Yousef takes this bus home from work that is a few stops before Sana's school.

However, somehow they never spoke. Not a word. They lock eyes sometimes, smile friendly but neither of them ever said anything to the other one. Why wouldn't they? Having small talk with strangers on public transport is not unusual but these two apparently are. It just never happened. They acknowledged that the other one was on the bus most days and whenever they weren't, got worried. Sana wondered a few times why she got a sinking feeling in her stomach when she couldn't see him some days but always just quickly shrugged that off. 

Now, Sana goes to stand at the free space at the second door, which is conveniently near to where the dark-haired stranger is sitting. She takes out her phone and reads the texts in a group chat with her best friends.

Without registering what he's doing, Yousef looks at her, deep in thoughts. There's something about this stranger that makes him feel himself drawn to her. Even if they never exchanged a word. Maybe it's because she seems so mysterious. She's almost always wearing black, takes this bus alone, like he does, and that's about all he knows about her. Well, he also sees her reading once in a while, if she ever finds a seat.   
It would be a lie if he said he never thought of talking to her. She's beautiful, for one. But something would always come in between. Either he would chicken out because he thinks 'Why would a girl like her want to talk to me?' or she would be standing too far away and he'd feel weird getting up and talking to her or by the time he found the courage to go up and talk to her she'd leave the bus.

Sana then gets a text from her brother.

"Sis! Can you pleeeease pick up dish soap from the store? I promised Mamma but forgot."

The text makes her roll her eyes. She will do it, of course, but her older brother can be so forgetful. He'll never forget when the next important football match is but everything else will slip his mind. 

That she needs to go to the store means she'll have to be on the bus for two more stops than usual. She answers her brother and locks her phone. Then she finds herself looking through the bus. People-watching on the bus can be really interesting. Especially at this time of the day when people all are exhausting and don't really care what others thinks about them. Still, in the afternoons Sana's eyes would usually end up on the cute stranger she sees on a daily basis. When her eyes fall on him he is looking down on his phone. He's quickly texting something with a cute smile on his face.

Maybe he's texting a girlfriend, Sana finds herself thinking and immediately shakes her head at her own thoughts. He can be, it's none of her business. Sana sees him looking up from his phone and out of the window and quickly averts her eyes. He doesn't need to know she was looking.

At the bus stop Sana usually gets off Yousef looks at her, he knew she was still standing at the door. But she doesn't leave the bus. Instead she makes room for people to go past her. Yousef is confused and bites his lip in concentration. He shouldn't care so much about where a stranger gets off the bus. But that girl has this weird effect on him.

When the bus is a little less crowded Sana goes to stand at the window, right in front of Yousef's seat. She is very aware of her position and tries to make it look like she's just looking through the bus to not obviously look at him. Why does she get so excited by just standing near that particular stranger? 

Finally, Sana's gaze lands on him and at the same time he looks at her. 

Yousef starts smiling a little at her and when she responds with a small smile of her own Yousef has to try really hard not to break into a full-blown grin. Their interactions over the last years were limited to just this, looks and friendly smiles. But this smile makes Yousef feel different than usual. Maybe because she is closer than she usually is, maybe because he feels like this is finally the day they talk.

Sana looks at the stranger and then out of the window. Should she just say Hi? They've been seeing each other on the bus for so long now and introducing herself wouldn't be too weird, right?

"Salih?", someone says rather loudly and both Yousef and Sana look at the direction from where the sound came. A short guy with red hair comes up to them, or rather to the dark-haired stranger Sana tried to find courage to talk to.

She looks at the stranger supposedly named Salih but somehow, she doesn’t think that that name fits him. She doesn't know why she thinks that, she doesn't even know him but she feels like that name is not right for him.

Sana sees the cute stranger look at the red-haired guy with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh, sorry. My bad. I thought you're someone else.", says the red-haired guy quickly, turns on his heel and walks to the front of the bus. That was weird. And Sana is not the only one thinking that. She meets the stranger's eyes and he looks as amused as she probably does and they both burst out laughing. That was a weird interaction especially because the seat next to Yousef is not free; an older lady is sitting there. So the red-haired guy kind of got a little bit too close to the lady to look at Yousef.

The bus stops and there is only one more stop for Sana to go and now they both calmed down a little. 

They're both looking at each other smilingly and then the boy says: "It's Yousef, by the way."

Sana raises her eyebrows at him a bit confused because this is so out of context. Also, she is surprised by his voice. These are his first words to her, after all.

"My name.", he says with a smile. "I'm not Salih, I'm Yousef."

That makes sense and Sana chuckles lightly and answers with the same smile playing on her lips: "I'm Sana.", and extents her hand towards Yousef.

He looks down at her hand for a second and quickly reacts and shakes her hand. Sana tilts her head a little bit and thinks that this name suits him much better.

The bus stops again and Sana almost loses her balance because she wasn't paying attention but rather was concentrated on Yousef. She smiles at him once more and says that she gets off the bus here. He looks around and Sana can see surprise in his eyes. 

"Me too, actually!", he says and politely asks to go past the old lady next to him. While Yousef was happy to finally have talked to the pretty girl he has been noticing for so long, he almost missed his stop. 

Sana and Yousef both leave the bus and neither of them directly goes their own way. They just stand there, both with their hands in the pockets of their jackets. 

"Uh.. I'm going that way.", Yousef says and points right. He doesn't want to say anything because he finally talked to her and doesn't want it to end so soon.

Sana smiles but quickly presses her lips together to not show her excitement. She didn't want this conversation to end with them just introducing themselves. And she is really going in the same direction as him.

"Me too.", she says and sees how Yousef starts smiling and they start walking. There is a lot of space between them and both try to think of something to say without it being somehow weird. Both look around while walking until Yousef speaks up. Sana is so happy that he does that she has to actively try not to grin too much. He's still somewhat of a stranger, she shouldn't get this excited.

"So, are you coming from school, or...?", Yousef didn't know what else to ask now but it worked. 

Sana looks at him and shakes her head first but then nods. Yousef chuckles lightly and raises an eyebrow questioning her answer.

Sana laughs at herself but then explains: "I was at school first but I had basketball practice last."

Yousef makes an understanding 'Ahh' sound and Sana asks: "What about you?"

Now he smiles at her before answering: "From work actually." Sana has never been this happy that a street is so long. 

She nods and wonders if she should ask where he works but decides against it. They don't know each other for too long now. Well, they know of each other for three years but they never talked before. 

"So you play basketball?", Yousef decides to ask. He has seen her on the bus with sports-clothes before. Right now she's just wearing normal daily wear. Sana makes a humming, agreeing sound and he looks at her. She's kicking a small stone in front of her and then looks up to meet his eyes. 

"Are you any good?", he asks her with a smile that makes Sana take a sharp breath. She hopes he didn't notice.

Sana raises her eyebrows at him. Is she any good? He doesn't know how competitive she is, of course. But did he really just ask Sana Bakkoush that?

"I'd say so.", she says and stops walking. That confuses Yousef. Did he say something wrong? Did he already screw up talking to her?

Sana points behind her. Yousef looks at where she is pointing and sees a grocery store. "I need to get something here.", Sana says and Yousef nods, secretly really relieved that he wasn't the reason for her to stop.

Sana thinks for a second. Is what she is thinking about doing a good idea? Maybe. Maybe not. She is still going to do it. Yousef watches her search for something in her bag and just waits, rocking back and forth on his spot. Sana takes out a sheet of paper and holds it out for him to take.

"You can decide for yourself 'if I'm any good' at basketball, if you want.", Sana says in a challenging tone because she knows she is good at it. 

Yousef looks down at the flyer she gave him and gets really happy, even before Sana explains further: "My team got together with our rival team to collect money for the local animal shelter. Watching the game is free but we're hoping to sell pastries and stuff." 

Sana really isn't sure if this was a good idea but the timing of this event is perfect. It's this Saturday and the conversation with Yousef did lead into this direction. 

She looks down on the ground for a moment because she usually is not this straight forward with guys she might be interested in and she fears his reaction. But then she hears him chuckle and looks up. Sana is greeted with a big smile from Yousef and he nods.

"Of course.", he says but quickly adds, "You seem very confident in your basketball skills, I definitely need to see them."

"Okay.", Sana says smiling like he does. Once everything seems to have the perfect timing. That's what both of them think in this moment. 

"Okay.", he repeats.

Sana takes a step back, toward the store, and before turning around says: "Bye, Yousef."

"See you on Saturday, Sana."

Maybe this means that Sana is going to be in Yousef's life now and will not only be a small part of it he only sees on the bus on his way home from work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yousef goes to Sana's basketball game and learns more about her.

Seeing someone almost every day on public transport is one thing.   
Usually, it's at the end of their busy day then. You get to see how they look and admire their beauty. You get to see if they look exhausted and theorize what could've made them that. You get to see the smallest, probably most insignificant part of their day.

Seeing some do what they are passionate about is a complete other thing.

Standing here, in midst of kids, teenagers and adults, and watching the basketball game he was invited to a few days ago by a pretty stranger, Yousef experiences the differences of these two different scenarios.

Yousef watches how Sana runs non-stop, looks for free spaces, and always has her eyes on her teammates. Doing all that, she must be exhausted, but she doesn't stop. Not for a second.

It's all worth it to her, Yousef thinks. He can see it in her smile when she makes a 3-pointer, he can see it in her smile when she gives up scoring the point she could have made for her teammate who didn't score once in the whole game until then.

Yousef doesn't even mind that he doesn't know anyone here and he doesn't care that he might have clapped too loud after Sana scored. He wasn't the only one clapping loudly at that point either. Another guy starts cheering as soon as Sana scores and honestly, for a second Yousef feared that might be someone Sana is involved with and she was only being friendly to him on the bus the other day. But that worry quickly vanishes after the said guy almost shouts: "That's my sister right there!", pointing at Sana. The four girls next to him who clapped almost as loud as he did laugh at that and all of them sit down again.

After the game ends, which Sana's team wins by six points, everyone starts going outside. Sana had mentioned they would sell pastries and stuff. Seeing as Sana and her team went back to the locker room, Yousef follows the masses outside and starts looking around for something to eat. The problem: All of it looks amazing. So he ends up buying more than he should have.

Standing there, awkwardly because he doesn't know anyone, Yousef slowly eats his food while looking around. He sees kids running around and smiles at the little child that runs into him because he was running and not looking to the front.

"Hi!", someone says and Yousef turns around quickly. He was deep in thoughts while looking around.

Yousef's hope that it's Sana gets crushed as soon as he sees the girl standing in front of him. It's a blonde girl with a big smile on her face.

"Hi?", Yousef answer which sounds more like a question. He has never seen her before.

She extents her hand and introduces herself: "Hi, I’m Vilde! I saw you cheering a lot for my friend Sana!"

Yousef's face changes at the mention of Sana and Vilde notices. She doesn't say anything to that but continues with what she meant to say.

"I just wanted to ask if you knew her and even if you don’t; it was great of you to cheer for her like that. She's really great, isn't she? You probably heard my friends and I clapped so loudly."

Yousef is a little overwhelmed with how fast she is talking and tries to keep up. And when he wants so scramble up an excuse as to why he was cheering so loudly without admitting he is here because he has a crush on Sana, Vilde's name gets called. She shouts a _Bye_ to Yousef and leaves without another word.

Well, that was interesting. 

Yousef starts walking around and looks around. Searching for Sana. Excitement builds in his chest and he doesn't know what to do with himself. Sana is the girl he has been seeing on the bus almost every day for years. Sana is the girl that popped into his head whenever another girl showed interest and he felt the need to decline. It's ridiculous, he is aware of that. Before this week he had never even talked to Sana but he somehow felt like she'd be the one he wanted to be with, even before talking to her. I'm so pathetic, he thinks to himself. There is a very big possibility that Sana is not interested in him like that, that she was just being friendly. He shouldn't get too excited but well, it's too late for that now.

Sana leaves the gym and is immediately greeted by her friends. The four girls hug her in a group hug and congratulate her for the win.

"It was just for charity. It's not a big deal.", Sana says but can't help herself and smiles brightly. She loves how supportive her friends are. Even with games like these. 

They talk for two minutes about the game and about the other players but all that time Sana looks around. She tries to be inconspicuous but her friends notice it. It helps that they saw her big smile when that one cute guy cheered loudly for her when she scored. 

"Okay, if you're looking for the cute dark-haired boy, he was walking around.", Vilde says with a knowing look.

"And he looked like he was searching for someone.", Chris adds. 

Sana tries to act confused but she is too excited to see Yousef again that it doesn't work. She is faced with four very wide smiles that wait for an explanation which she doesn't do at first.

Noora and Eva start talking at the same time and basically say the same thing: "Who is that guy? Tell us! He's cute!"

Sana sighs and thinks that she'd tell them someday anyway and why not now. 

"He's a guy I've been taking the bus with for some time and we talked for the first time this week."

As soon as she finishes her sentence, Eva and Vilde jump up and down in excitement and shriek. Noora just grins at Sana and Chris winks at her and hugs her to her side. 

Sana shakes her head quickly. "Don't get excited this much. Who knows if he was not just being nice in agreeing to come."

Chris rolls her eyes and points behind Sana. "Hmm.. who knows? He's just staying here after the game and still walking around and looking for someone..."

Sana turns around and her eyes fall on Yousef. Her stomach makes a flip and she shakes her head at herself. Don't get too excited, you're just going to talk a bit. When Sana doesn't move at first, Eva lightly pushes her in his direction and says: "Sana, go. We all have to go now anyway." 

"Go talk to him. He's obviously only here for you!", Vilde says and to make their point all four girls just turn around and start walking away, just shouting a _Bye_ over their shoulders. Why are her friends like this? Sana looks at them walking away for a few seconds while trying to brace herself to go over to the cute kind-of stranger.

When she turns around and starts walking towards him, she sees him walking towards her. Their eyes meet. Both of them start smiling instantly. 

They meet in the middle.

"Hi.", Sana says first.

"Hi.", Yousef answers. 

Sana is a little overwhelmed with him actually coming to the game and the way he smiles at her but she manages to say.

"You came!"

"I told you I would.", he says with a small smile and nods to the bench next to the gym. They sit down and Sana's eyes are drawn to Yousef's plate. It's obvious that he already ate some of it but it's still very full. 

Yousef follows Sana's gaze and laughs. "Well, I couldn't decide what to eat because it all looks great. It's for the animal shelter, so it's okay.“

"Hmm.. you're being so selfless buying that much food.", Sana comments with  a smirk.

Yousef raises his eyebrows: "Are you making fun of me?" Sana shrugs trying to contain a laugh and he continues: "You know what, I don't care. Here, try some of these and you'll understand."

He holds his plate out to her and waits for her to take something off the plate. She doesn't at first but looks from the plate back to Yousef. He indicated that she should take something, so she does. It's a Ghriba Bahla cookie and sees Yousef smiling at her.

"What?", she asks before biting into it.

"That's what I liked most so far.", he says, looking at the cookie and then to her. 

Sana starts laughing and even though he doesn't know why he laughs with her.

"I think these are the cookies my mom made.", then she takes a bite and nods. "These definitely are the ones my mom made."

"Well, then tell your mother that these are really great and that a friend wants the recipe if she is willing to give it up."

Sana nods with a smile and chews on her cookie. Saying that he considers them friends is a good sign, right? It's better than strangers. While Sana eats the cookie, Yousef takes something else and eats that. All that short while he can't stop himself looking at Sana every other second. She has no make-up on, did have a basketball game a short while ago and it's really hot outside but despite all that she looks so beautiful. 

When Sana looks at him again, he averts his eyes. 

"So, am I any good?", Sana asks and confuses Yousef. 

He is sure she is, in every way, but that's probably not what she means. Sana laughs about his confused look but doesn't get to explain what she means because it clicks for Yousef and he nods quickly.

Honestly, neither of them had in mind that the whole reason they are talking right now is that Sana invited him to the basketball game. Neither of them thought of talking about that. Seeing each other made them forget about that. 

"You really are! I'm impressed. Might have even be very embarrassing how excited I got whenever you scored.", Yousef admits, without thinking before talking. He realizes what he said and lowers his head. Why doesn't he think before he talks, it's not that hard.

Sana can't believe how cute he is. Whenever she saw him on the bus, he was usually alone. That way he was not showing how cute he is. All she saw was how handsome he is. This is such a pleasant surprise.

"Don't worry, it was really nice of you!", Sana answers to that. 

With that they start talking. 

About the game, Yousef admitting that he doesn't know that much about basketball and asking Sana about some rules. 

About Yousef working in a kindergarten, with Sana's heart growing ten sizes about how passionately he talks about the kids he works with.

About Sana's plans of becoming a surgeon, with Yousef being so impressed that this girl can do it all, that he can't even hide it.

How they get to these topics, neither of them knows. It just sort of happens, naturally.

They talk for a long time and eat all the food Yousef bought. He insisted on Sana helping him eating all that because 'he can't afford eating everything by himself because he is not as fit as Sana'.

They talk for so long that most people have packed up and went home. 

"I should get home soon.", Sana says not being able to hide her disappointment. 

Yousef looks at the time on his phone. His eyes widen. He definitely should have left at least half an hour ago

"Me too, actually."

They start walking to the bus stop together, Sana balancing her bag on her shoulder and only then realizing how exhausted she really is. Still, the happy smile doesn't leave her face for a second. 

"Anything special happening next week?", Yousef asks Sana casually. He had another question in mind but was too shy to straight out ask that. 

Sana looks at him and shakes her head: "No, not really. Not yet, at least."

Yousef just nods to that and presses his lips together, mentally giving himself a pep-talk, trying to get the words out. Finally, he just sighs and thinks 'What could happen?' and starts talking.

"I was wondering if you ... you know ... if you have time and want to .. I don't know, maybe grab a coffee together.", wow. That was hard. But it's said and done now. But why is Yousef fearing to look at Sana and seeing her reaction?

"Yousef.", she says when he doesn't look at her after asking her that. He slowly lifts his head and is faced with a smiling Sana. "I would like that."

With perfect timing the bus arrives and they both get on. Yousef goes to sit at his usual spot he tries to occupy but what's different is that Sana sits next to him. 

For the first time they are not standing at two different ends of the bus, sneaking glances once in a while. 

For the first time they are taking the bus together.

Sana looks at Yousef; Yousef looks at Sana and they smile at each other.

This might be the point in which it changes.

Yousef is not just a part of her life anymore, he is in it now.

Sana is not just a part of his life anymore, she is in it now.


End file.
